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Author says Newtown could have been stopped

In this photo provided by the Newtown Bee, Connecticut State Police lead children from the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., following the shooting there Friday, Dec. 14, 2012.AP Photo/Newtown Bee, Shannon Hicks

Guests

Matthew Lysiak: Journalist and author

One year after the Newtown school shooting that left 20 children and six adults dead in Connecticut, former New York Daily News reporter Matthew Lysiak joined The Daily Circuit to recount the events of that day.

Lysiak returned to Newtown to research and write a book, "Newtown: An American Tragedy," with a more poignant and serious look at the family of the killer, Adam Lanza.

'Newtown' by Matthew LysiakBook cover courtesy of publisher

Highlights of the interview:

• "People have no idea how sick he was. This was not just a kid who was a little bit off. He was severely mentally ill. And He was getting no treatment. My fear moving forward is that if we don't get a grip on this situation, and completely understand that there's a whole group of these very severely mentally ill people who are not getting treatment, these mass shootings are going to be a problem that continues to escalate."

• "The issue of mental health I think is sort of shortchanged and that is the common denominator with all these mass shootings, I would say, with the exception of Fort Hood."

• "Nancy [Lanza's mother] has been vilified, and rightfully so. The weapons in the house — I'll forever be bewildered by that."

• "Adam would not let his mom in his bedroom. And he'd be sick. His mom would sleep on the floor outside the room. Occasionally Adam would call out, 'Are you there mom? Are you there?' and she would say, 'I'm here, Adam.' I look at that and I see pure love. ..."

• "Picture this. This young man's in his room all day. He very rarely leaves. He cuts out all of his family. He has these black garbage bags covering the windows. He's obsessing over serial killers. And he's on no medication. This could have been prevented. ... Someone could have intervened and prevented it, and no one did."

• "I think a lot of people are going to get this book and look for motive, and I'm going to do a spoiler here: There is none. I think if he were here, trying to explain why he did this, it would make no sense, because that's how severe mental illness works. ... This is something I think the mental health community needs to really begin discussing seriously. All these mentally ill people are around. Severely mentally ill. And if they don't get treatment, we can expect more of this."

• "Five minutes after he gets there, the police are outside. Five to seven. The response time was immediate. And my perspective was that he would have continued the rampage ... it was shortly after the police arrived that he took his own life."